Development of a User Interface Application for lpoh City Council … · 2020. 5. 7. · Development of a User Interface Application for Ipoh City Council Department of Town Planning

Development of a User Interface Application for lpoh City Council

Department of Town Planning Day-to-Day Data Sharing Services

By

Mohamad Shahrustami b. Mohd Nadzeri

A project dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirement for the

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)

(Civil Engineering)

DECEMBER 2004

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

Bandar Seri Iskandar

31750 Tronoh

Perak Darul Ridzuan

CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

Development of a User Interface Application for Ipoh City Council Department of

Town Planning Day-to-Day Data Sharing Services

Approved by:

By

MOHAMAD SHAHRUSTAMI B. MOHD NADZERI

A project dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirement for the

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)

(Civil Engineering)

Approved by:

(MS.NOOR AMILA BT. WAN

ABDULLAH ZA WA WI)

(DR. ABDUL NASIR B.

MATORI)

Project Supervisor I Project Supervisor II

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

TRONOH, PERAK

December 2004

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this project, that the

original work is my own except as specified in the references and acknowledgements,

and that the original work contained herein have not been undertaken or done by

unspecified sources or persons.

MOHAMAD SHAHRUSTAMI B. MOHD NADZERI

II

ABSTRACT

The focus of this Final Year Project is on the development of the User-Interface

Application which forms a part of the whole integrated system of the information

delivery method for Ipoh City Council (MBI) Planning Department on this particular

service to various public for various purposes. The purpose of this report is to present on

the project's objectives, project deliverable and finally which is the main content and aim

of this report on the final product of this project. The first part of this report presents on

the background of the project, its problem statement, project's objectives as well as the

scope of work concerned. The following discussion focus on the result and its

corresponding discussion which is the User-Interface Application itself in terms of its

functions and deliverable while the final part of this report concludes the report with a

recommendations for the next steps of future undertakings and possible improvements to

the application to enhance its usage and value.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, my gratitude forwarded to the project's supervisors, Mrs. Noor Amila

bt. Wan Abdullah Zawawi and Dr. Abdul Nasir Matori for their direction, commitment

and support towards this project and to Miss Jaslina Shaidin, one of the Ipoh City Council

(MBI) Planning Officer who proposed this project and whose department is going to

employ this product fully to replace their conventional method of delivery system which

makes it is so valuable for the student's final year project and makes it has a good

potential to be marketed.

Special thanks to Miss Komathy Krishnan, who is teaching computer programming in

COSMOPOINT Institute of Information Technology in Ipoh for her very valuable

support and contribution throughout the Implementation period of this project which is

beyond expectation and which I think, could not be refunded by whatever means from

this world. Thanks a lot!

Thanks also to Mrs. Saadiah Mohd Saat, one of the Research Officer in UTP Civil

Engineering Department as well as a Master student specializing in GIS (Geographic

Information System) for her contribution at the very beginning of the Implementation

phase of this project and thanks for borrowing me some books on GIS Application and

manuals.

Thanks to my family especially to my parents and my elder sister who has supported me

a lot with opinions and valuable advice. Thanks a lot!

IV

Thanks also to Mr. Syahrulnizam b. Baharom, Assistant Town Planning Officer in

Taiping Municipal Council Department of Town Planning and Building Control for

borrowing some books on GIS and giving a lot valuable material especially video clip on

the department's routine activity of front-desk data delivery services which is so valuable

for my presentation.

Last but not least, thanks to those who directly or indirectly has supported and

contributed towards the success of this project.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY .

ABSTRACT.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

LIST OF FIGURES .

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.

1.1 Project's Background .

1.2 Problem Statement

1.3 Objectives

1.4 Scope of Works

CHAPTER2: LITERATURE REVIEW .

CHAPTER3: METHODOLOGY .

CHAPTER4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.

4.1 User Access Level

4.2 OpenMap

4.3 Open Layer

4.4 Close Map/Layer

VI

.i

.ii

.iii

.iv

.vi

.viii

.1

.I

.4

.5

.6

.7

. 9

.11

.II

.12

.13

.15

CHAPTERS:

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

4.5 Query Functions

4.5.1 Lot Search

4.5.2 Land Use

4.5.3 Road

4.5.4 Find

4.6 Tools for Map Working

4.6.1 Select .

4.6.2 Zoom In and Zoom Out

4.6.3 Change View .

4.6.4 Pan

4.6.5 Info Tool

4.6.6 Layer Control .

4.6.7 Show/Hide Legend

.16

.16

.16

.18

.19

.23

.23

.24

.24

.25

.25

.26

.28

4.6.8 Marquee Select, Radius Select, Polygon Select

4.6.9 Show Statistics

4.6.1 0 Object Info

4.6.11 Print

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

5.2 Recommendation

vii

.30

.31

.31

.31

.33

.33

.33

.34

.36

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 4.1: User Access Level . .12

Fig. 4.2: Map appears when Open Map command clicked .13

Fig. 4.3: A window prompts the user to make selection on which layer

of the map to be displayed . .14

Fig. 4.4: Open Layer function allows user to open the map layer

by layer for specific task. As shown is layer ofland lots by

polygon in black and layer of road networks by line in yellow .15

Fig. 4.5: Lot Search Window shows not only the searched file of a

particular lot (bottom table of the window) but also allow the

user to browse through the entire database of every recorded lot

(top table of the window) .17

Fig. 4.6: The file corresponding to a particular land lot could also be searched

based on its land use type .

Fig. 4.7: Road function allows user to view corresponding file of a

particular road

Fig. 4.8: Find function allows user to perform spatial search based on a wide

array of search inputs as shown in the drop-down menu of

.18

.19

the Find window .20

Fig. 4.9: The next event of Find mechanism after user has chosen the type

of search input and highlight symbol .21

Fig. 4.10: The search result in Find will be displayed on map via use of

symbol as shown . .22

viii

Fig. 4.11: Change View tool allows user to change the map window

to preferred view

Fig. 4.12: Info Tool .

Fig. 4.13: Layer Control Tool.

Fig. 4.14: Info Label on the street width of all road networks throughout

the city via Layer Control makes engineering decision more

effective like on whether the current road conditions are

synchronized with the surrounding development .

Fig. 4.15: Show Statistics Tool

Fig. 4.16: Object Info Tool showing information on total area, total perimeter

as well as position-related information of the map object

IX

.24

.26

.27

.29

.30

.32

CHAPTER!

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project's Background

Housing, industrial and commercial area distribution, site location, underground and

public utilities, land use pattern of particular ur]:mn area are few types qf information on .''1' t

urban characteristics needed by various people .. For example, they are landowner who

want to build a house, shop owner or renter who want to setup offices or business outlets,

developer who seek for the possibility of building a residential scheme or townships,

towards civil engineers in performing regular inspection, maintenance and planning for

future expansion of the underground utilities to cater for the new development in a

particular region of a city, as well as towards others various governmental and non-

governmental agencies where these examples of information are critical for their day-to-

day operation and decision-making.

While these and others types of information on urban characteristics are provided by the

Planning Department of a City or Municipal Councils of a particular urban or municipal

area, the current system used by most of Malaysian City and Municipal Councils in

delivering the information is human-based. The meaning of human-based here is the

seeker, or those who needs these information whether the land or shop owner, developer,

or engineer for instance, has to step into the Planning Department themselves to get the

information that they required where the front-desk staff of the department will entertain

every single seeker who come to ask for a specific information that the department keeps

and maintains. After searching on the requested information done by the front-desk staff

through the department's massive filing system, the relevant information will then be

copied and given to the seeker in terms of hardcopy and this information will then be

charged by the department for the copies made as well as for the value entitled with the

information itself. Thus, this kind of service provided by the Planning Department has a

return in itself in terms of the department's income to maintain and update their database

regularly as the seeker will always demand for the up-to-date information from the

1

department. For that reason, by improving the current delivery system discussed above

may certainly increase the department's income twofold since in a day, not only one but

many people who come to the Planning Department to ask about the information on

urban characteristics that the department provides and depending on the number of front-

desk staff available at one time as well as their familiarity with the filing system, types of

information requested, the size of the filing or database system that the department have,

as well as the handling method used in storing and managing the filing, the average time

consumed for each seeker to attain the information required is 25 minutes1• It is therefore

the most suitable and effective way in delivering this information is through

computerized system with the use of lesser number of front-desk staff to entertain

requests from the seeker and the system should be friendly and easy enough for the

seeker to use and attain the required information. It is expected that the improved

delivery method will reduce this figure up to less than I 0 minutes per person so that more

seeker can be entertained per day as compared to the conventional method.

In the case of urban planner of the Municipal or City Council itself, the significance of

the information on the current land use pattern or downtown building characteristics (e.g.

building heights, age, built-up area etc.) for instance is critical for their decision making

on the zoning strategies from which a sustainable planning practices are applied. For

instance, by knowing the distribution and total area of business districts and by

considering the current demand and potential future increase in demand for this type of

use at the city centre will give an indication to the urban planner to plan for adequate

housing scheme and whether or not to improve the current public transportation system to

cater for the demand. In this example, urban planner may collaborate with the engineers

and professionals from various fields to together formulate the zoning ordinances which

are to be incorporated for future development effort.

1 This statistics (2001) is provided by Taiping Municipal Council Department of Town Planning and

Building Control.

2

Decision on whether or not to widen the current road network or to increase the

acces~ibility of public to the city centre by opening alternative road to the area where the

trip demand is relatively high (e.g. shopping complexes, theme parks etc.) or decision on

whether or not to construct a ring road network to minimize traffic entering the congested

city centre by distributing traffic based on the origin-destination mechanism are all

responsibility of the urban planners and engineers of the Municipal or the City Council

and they should not have only a comprehensive information on the current land use

pattern and future pattern in development demand, current infrastructure but also should

be able to integrate all these inter-related information in spatial form for them to make

fast and effective decision. For instance, just by superimpose spatial data on future land

use pattern with the current road network and underground utilities (e.g. pipeline

networks, sewer, etc.) may indicate the engineers whether or not to upgrade the existing

scheme of these infrastructure to cater for the future development. It is therefore there is a

need for not only improved delivery method ofthis urban-related information but also the

need to support urban planners and engineers who work for Municipal or the City

Council in their critical and routine· decision making activities through an integrated

system.

In order to enhance the effectiveness of this integrated delivery system, the database,

instead of in a form of filing documents, has to be upgraded into a computerized form

which is to be synchronized with the integrated delivery system. It is therefore the

upgrading of both the information format as well as the current delivery method towards

a more integrated device will certainly enhance the effectiveness of information delivery

services by the Planning Department and will support both urban planners and engineers

to make an informed and critical decision on their strategies towards urban related matter.

3

1.2 Problem Statement

Like others Malaysian Local Authorities, where providing information on the urban

characteristics for the use of people from various backgrounds for various needs is one of

the most important and routine activities, Ipoh City Council (MBI) Planning Department

has identified the need to improve their current method of delivery from human-based

towards integrated computerized system. The integrated computerized system should also

include appropriate tools to facilitate urban planners and engineers to manipulate that

information on the urban characteristics for their planning and decision-making activities.

With the expansion of the MBI area from 137.50 km2 to 387.63 km2 in the year 1997, the

size of the Planning Department database will certainly increases and thus the demand for

the information will also increase. Of course, the main important factor that causes this

increase in the demand is the increase in demand to develop land, redevelop former

building or shop lots, opening new offices and business outlets, residential and industrial

areas etc. within the MBI area. For example, as one of the requirement for a shop owner

to open an office or business outlet is to attach the owner site location with the planning

application to the Planning Department for approval. If the owner wants to open a

restaurant or a food center, he/she must also submit related information regarding the

proposed site and its surrounding environment to the Health Department for their

approval. This information which has to be kept up-to-date by the Planning Department

will ease the shop owner to prepare his/her planning application to the MBI. Meanwhile,

as the city expands with new development and redevelopment progress and the possible

demand for development associated with a construction of a new road networks to access

to the new identified area for development for instance, the needs to revise the current

zoning strategies and the needs to investigate on the possibility of upgrading the current

infrastructure capacity and performance to cater for the demand and future development

are critically important for most urban planners and engineers who works with the City

Council itself. It is therefore there is a need of not only improved delivery method of the

urban-related information concerned, but also improved means or tools to support urban

4

planners and engineers to perform their routine tasks and that is why this project came

into being.

1.3 Objectives

Following are the objectives of this project:

1. To provide self-reception and self-service concept of day-to-day request of

information by the public.

2. To support engineers and urban planners in their routine tasks of planning and

decision-making

3. To effectively reduced the time needed for the seeker to attain the required

information from the Planning Department front-desk staff.

4. To reduced the number of staff needed to entertain or provides the services to

the seeker.

5. To exploit the benefit of GIS technology into day-to-day operation of the

Planning Department

6. To ensure that the client would still be able to obtain necessary information

through self-service approach when there are no personnel at the time to

perform the task, which in tum will improves and maintain the service quality

and availability of the Planning Department.

5

1.4 Scope of Works

Since MBI Planning Department already has their database in a digitized form, the only

thing that they want to improve is their information delivery system. It is therefore the

focus of this Final Year Project is on the delivery system for MBI Planning Department.

However, since the huge scope of the delivery system which comprises of several method

of information delivery and within the limited time frame, this Final Year Project will

only focus on the design and development of the User-Interface Application tailored for

the use by landowners who come to the front-desk of the Planning Department to attain

information on their land and its surrounding vicinity as well as for the use of MBI urban

planners and engineers to support their planning and decision-making activities. For the

case of landowner as a user, this application will direct the seeker to the department's

database through a computer provided at the front-desk and this approach is also known

as a self-service approach of getting urban related information.

Most of the time, the User-Interface Application will perform queries made by the user

(the term 'user' instead of 'seeker' will be used throughout the following discussion) by

sending the queries made into the application and will direct the application to display the

information in a form of map and table. The display will then be made a copy via a print

out function provided in the application for user's record and retention which is

connected to the department's printer provided at the front-desk. The fee or charge for the

information will then be paid by the user to the available front-desk staff and this only

applied to the landowner type of user while urban planners and engineers are as an

exception.

6

CHAPTER2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Given the dynamic nature of planning and management carried out at local level, it is not

surprising that the local authorities become one of the largest users of GIS in advanced

and developed countries. In Malaysia, only a small number of District Councils and

Municipalities have already invested in GIS. However, the one-time reluctance of local

authorities to accept the challenge to embrace the technology is mainly due to an earlier

lack of support from the management level, the lack of in-house expertise to make use of

the system and the high cost of GIS, which has been countered by the support given

directly by the Federal Goverrnnent in realizing the concept of e-planning.

The present system of development control in most local authorities in Malaysia is by

granting or refusal of planning permission for development. The local authority is

empowered to approve or refuse any planning application in its area. The recent

amendment to the Town and Country Planning Act requires that certain planning

applications shall be accompanied by a development proposal report which includes a

written statement and a plan to describe the present condition of the land to which the

application relates, as well as describe the proposed development, in particular on how it

would be likely to have significant effect on the built environment. In most cases, a

development proposal report involves a technique for the systematic compilation of

expert quantitative analysis and qualitative assessment of project land use and property

development viability, including its effect on the surrounding area, and the presentation

of results in a way that enables the importance of the predicted results, and the scope of

modifying or mitigating them to be properly evaluated by the relevant decision making

body before a planning permission is rendered.

7

Following are the major aspects of information which are required for a development

proposal report:

i) Status of land and restrictions.

ii) Land use analysis and intensity of development - this includes land

use zoning, population density zoning, height limit, plot ratio,

plinth area, predetermined public area.

iii) Analysis of issue and potential of sites -this includes site location,

existing drainage system, topography and slope, existing road

system, existing land use, natural features which must be preserved

and development potential.

iv) Analysis of surrounding development- this includes infrastructure

type, intensity and facilities available in the surrounding area.

v) The policies of the Structure Plan and Local Plan if available.

In addition, planning proposal report should also observe the planning standards or other

policies, which may be imposed from time to time. The report will then have to be

verified by the local authority concerned, in particular by the Planning Division. The

report together with other considerations will be used as a basis for making decision.

Based on the above process of development control, any planning application submitted

by individuals or developers who would like to develop a particular piece of land within

the particular local authority control have to be incorporated with the planning proposal

which incorporates a comprehensive information about the land itself as well as its

surrounding environment and these information are only provided by the Local

Authority, in particular, the Planning Division. As the demand of this urban-related

information is increasing, hence the delivery method of this information to public should

also be improved as what is one of the purposes of this project.

8

CHAPTER3

METHODOLOGY

To ensure for the set objectives to be targeted, a set of procedures had been formulated

and used for the whole development of this project. Following are the methodology that

has been structured to undertake this project effectively:

I. Problem Definition

2. Identification of Need

3. Data Collection

4. Preliminary Conceptual Design

5. Final Design

6. Implementation

In defining the problem, the MBI current method of delivery system had been selected as

the problem statement whereby the need for the improvement of the current system into

computerized and self-service based delivery method is the solution to the problem.

However, as defined in Chapter I on Scope of Work, the focus was only made on the

design and development ofthe User-Interface Application which form a part of the whole

improved delivery system.

The next step was the production of a conceptual design whereby relevant information

regarding the kind of urban related information needed to be integrated with the

application and how the application in terms of appearance will looks like were identified

via Data Collection. At this stage, the MBI Planning Department had been working

together in addressing those needs. In addition, recommendations from the Project

Supervisors to the application also had been taken into consideration. After all relevant

information is gathered, the next task was the production of Preliminary Conceptual

Design. The importance of this conceptual design is to be an early form of mean for

communicating the whole idea of the project to various personnel who directly or

indirectly involved in this project and it continuously improve the design form from one

9

simple state towards a better solution throughout its design period when the idea of the

project presented to a wide range of personnel throughout its design period.

After the design had been finalized and there was no further improvement to the early

form of the conceptual design, the Final Design of the application had been produced.

This final design had been the basis for the final stage of the project development, which

is Implementation.

The Implementation of the project started with the selection of the material involved. It

should be borne in mind that the end-product of this project is an integrated computer

application and it is therefore the process of implementation will focus on the

development of the product via computer programming means. In this implementation . - ' ·

stage, Microsoft Visual Basic version 6.0 had been selected as the programming language

to develop the application and Map Info Professional version 7.0 is the medium of which

the data are kept and maintained and it is to be integrated with the User-Interface

Application.

10

CHAPTER4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The end-product of this project is the User-Interface Application and the focus of this

chapter is on the function of the application itself and its possibility in improving the

delivery method currently practiced by MBI Planning Department will be justified. The

contents of this chapter will starts from the very basic of the application itself, which is

the appearances and the tools it is comprised of towards the function of its main

component, the queries tools as well as others map-related tools provided.

4.1 User Access Level

The appearance of the application is shown in Fig. 4.1 once the user is channeled to the

Planning Department's database and this first form of the application is called the User

Access Level. The color of the interface is chosen based from the colors of bougainvillea,

the official flower for Ipoh. It is noted that the User-Access Level interface is the main

form on which all the events and functions associated with the application will be worked

and displayed.

The topmost part of the interface shows the potential owner of this application, which is

MBI with the name of the application placed at the top as well as MBI logo on the top

left. The interface is further consists of three (3) parts, on the left is the open/close

map/layers and queries function, the main tools used with the map placed on the right of

the interface and the display box in the middle on which the map/layers and events for

each functions and tools will be displayed and activated correspondingly.

11

~

~ §l

qo- #*p ~ ~ ~ L.,_-_j CIJ

c.z- -,v'Z.,.,. I ~ I

~ LD~ s.ardl

~ L•nd /be _j :~ - I ~ F.Lnd I .!.]

~ ~

Fig. 4.1: User Access Level

4.2 Open Map

This is the main function of the application where it will open the map of lpoh with

colored regions showing different types of land uses (see Fig. 4.2). The color

representation on these different land uses could be view by clicking 1::::1 or Show/Hide Legend tool m the Toolbar. In fact, this Open Map function is the first and foremost thing that the user will perform before making any spatial query for example by asking the

application to show on the map the location of his/her land lot through any ofthe Queries

function; Lot Search, Land Use, Road or Find. Since the scope of this project is on lpoh

city centre district only, the current application only displays map of the city centre

district. The addition for others parts or districts of Ipoh could be easily incorporated by

saving the new map into the same file where the current map is located.

12

• f-1 - - - - - - - -- - - --------- - - --- -=---1' ~

qp.. Layer

L-U..

• _......, (II)

• - (SI)

F_.nd

• --. (Ill)

·- (1111) o-- (230) • ..,..._,._... (2111) . .._. ~ 1.._, • .......,. ro ........ (45) •

..................... (I)

........._ (4111) • .........__ (m)

a.......... (W)

Fig. 4.2: Map appears when Open Map command clicked

4.3 Open Layer

This has almost the same function with Open Map where it opens map and the difference

is that the Open Layer opens the map layer by layer (see Fig. 4.3). Explanation should

arrive here. Actually, the map of which the application communicated with is constructed

in several layers through Maplnfo application and each layer displays different

information of the map. For instance a typical map may contains spatial data on land lots,

road networks, rivers, railway networks, water supply pipelines etc. and each of these

data is actually constructed and contained in each different layer. Land lots are in one

layer, road networks in another layer, river in another layer and so on. By superimposing

all of these layers of land lots, road networks, rivers etc. will give a map as displayed

when previous Open Map function favored. This Open Layer function is actually

13

important and mostly used by in-house staff from within the Planning Department itself

or from others departments within the MBI and used when the layer by layer information

is required for specific task. This is also essential as Open Map function only displays

few layers which is of the typical user' s concern and where there are a numerous layers

of data could be displayed through Open Layer function without which results in

congested view of the map. This Open Layer function give the option to the user to select

from numerous layers of information of only which layers of the map that he/she want to

view.

.. Form1 - ..:~ '~~

Lot S..rch

L-U..

Lootn lo_., ~------ ---

~~ &

Mplloa-*

,._ IOJiOCri'l :::1 r.:-l....,.,.......,...,....,r:-:-- =-r=lll>l.,..,....-----il-,· r Opon. _....,

1 • start , ~ :1!· J · :. · , -. , • ~ ,. -. _ < .. .. •

Fig. 4.3: A window prompts the user to make selection on which layer of tbe map to

be displayed

14

Fig. 4.4: Open Layer function allows user to open the map layer by layer for specific

task. As shown are layer of land lots by polygon in black and layer of road networks

by line in yellow

4.4 Close Map/Layer

As the name implies, this function closes the currently opened map and layers. For the

latter, this function closes all layers that are currently opened simultaneously. To close

layer by layer use Layer Control tool designated with ..J from the Toolbar. It is noted that the user must use this function if he/she would like to switch to Open Map from

Open Layer and vice versa.

15

4.5 Query Functions

The following discussion will concentrates on the application's main purpose, query.

Query functions consist of Lot Search, Land Use, Road and Find and they are not only

used by the landowner who wants to know about their land and developments

surrounding their land but also used by urban planners and engineers since it shows not

only the spatial data of a particular land use or road for instance but also retrieve the files

associated with that particular land or road for their planning and decision making

activities.

4.5.1 Lot Search

This is one of many types of information on the urban characteristic that is mostly

asked by the landowner who enter the Planning Department. The Lot Search

function in this application allows user to search file of a particular lot within say,

the city centre district of his/her concern and the user only needs to enter the

corresponding lot number and the file referred to that particular lot will be

displayed. The file referred here is not the whole comprehensive file attached to

the lot but rather its brief information which is mostly used especially for

planning application purposes.

4.5.2 Land Use

Land Use is the most important information on urban related matter since

everything regarding urban infrastructure or economic development related with

land use. Thus, it is the most important information that all users from landowner

to engineers and urban planners will ask and needed for various purposes from

apply to plan and develop land by the landowner to decide on the maintenance

and upgrading works for a particular urban infrastructure system by engineers

until to the urban planners to formulate a new pattern of land uses for a particular

region so as to cater for the new demand in development of that region.

16

While Lot Search allows user to make file search based on lot number, Land Use

function allows user to search for the same file based on the type of use of land of

a particular land lot. Since this information is provided by the MBI where the

medium of language used for all its operation and database system is in Malay

Language, the user must enter the type of land use in Malay Language for

instance kediaman for residential , perdagangan for business, institusi for

institution, kawasan lapang for open space etc. It is noted that the result of this

query is more than one (1) file while the previous Lot Search resulted in only one

( 1) file due to the nature of the user input on query itsel f .

• Form I -~ ~ ~ - - - ~ - -- - :: .;' r.R

Fig. 4.5: Lot Search Window shows not only the searched file of a particular lot

(bottom table of the window) but also allow the user to browse through the entire

database of every recorded lot (top table of the window)

17

4.5.3 Road

This query function allows user to view associated infonnation of a particular

road within say, the city centre district by entering the corresponding road name.

lnfonnation like road length, width, pedestrian road width etc. are examples of the

infonnation associated with the road. This function is mostly used by the staff

from Engineering Department and Traffic Department for their operation as well

as to support their decision making tasks (e.g. whether or not to designate a

particular street as one-way street based on its traffic volume).

• Fotml - - -- - - -- .- "'!' !'?<

Fig. 4.6: Tbe file corresponding to a particular land lot could also be searched based

on its land use type

18

• fermi -- - - - - - - --~~X

~ ~ - r-liaol>lob 1 .. §) ~ qr:... N¥ I lnl

qr:..> L•yer J IJ C.l- ~,.,.,..,.,. J

hW ~ ] lEI

Lots..,,._ I l:s-.u ~ L-U:.. I -d I

F.lnd _j

Fig. 4.7: Road function allows user to view corresponding file of a particular road

4.5.4 Find

This function allows the user to make search and show the result on the map

rather than open its corresponding file and this function is more spatial based

where the user say, can view the location of his/her lot on the map by the

application highlights the location with symbol selected by the user in this

function 's mechanism. The spatial distribution of the particular land use for

instance could also being produced via this function. While the input of

previously discussed query functions; Lot Search, Land Use and Road, are based

on lot number, land use type, and road name, respectively, this Find function

allows user to make spatial search based on a wide number of input or

19

characteristics for instance lot identification number, owner or heights (esp. for

building lot) for land lot related search. This function will be mostly used by the

in-house staff either from within the Planning Department itself or others

departments as well.

._ ,_, -- ----- ---------- ----- ------;~!lE IPOH INTEGRATED MAPPING

Fig. 4.8: Find function allows user to perform spatial search based on a wide array

of search inputs as shown in the drop-down menu of the Find window

20

MAPPING

L-U...

Fig. 4.9: The next event of Find mechanism after user bas chosen the type of search

input and highlight symbol

21

• t ,... • - ... &

IPOH INTEGRATED MAPPING

LDC S..rch I ,___ I

-~ nnd II

__,... sra,, I, J:: j · _. ·. · . ·. .. .. it. ( • ,

Fig. 4.10: The search result in Find will be displayed on map via use of symbol as

shown

22

4.6 Tools for Map Working

This is referred to the tools provided at the rightmost part of the interface which consists

of the necessary tools required to work with map, performing simple analysis as well as

to print out map or results on queries. These are (from top to bottom) as follows;

i) Select

ii) Zoom In

iii) Zoom Out

iv) Change View

v) Pan

vi) Info Tool

vii) Layer Control

viii) Show/Hide Legend

ix) Marquee Select

x) Radius Select

xi) Polygon Select

xii) Show Statistics

xiii) Object Info

xiv) Print

4.6.1 Select

Select is the basic yet paramount tool to work with map. It is used to make a

selection on the map object for example one may want to select a particular lot of

land or road on the map for further task or analysis as simple as by asking the

application to display its attributed information via Info Tool.

23

4.6.2 Zoom In and Zoom Out

Zoom In and Zoom Out function is also the very basic and yet the most important

tools, more important than Select since these allow user to change the map view

as to either refine the view towards detailed presentation or enlarge so as to view

the location which is surrounding a particular site in a broader context and

display.

4.6.3 Change View

Alternatively, the user may use this tool to change the view of the map in terms of

zoom, map scale and choose preferred center of window (see Fig. 4.11)

- - Fo•m1 - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - -- - --- - - ~- :l' I_~

~ &it §J

.,._. -p ~ oJ

.,._. L•~

.!1 c..z,..._,.,..~ I ~

Lolt S..-rch _j ~ ~

L.ndlb# I ~ -d I ~ FJnd I .!.1

~ ~

Fig. 4.11: Change View tool allows user to change the map window to preferred

view

24

4.6.4 Pan

With a feature of hand, this common tool which can be seen in many other

applications besides those related to map is to let the user to browse or move

about the map so as the user may view other parts of the map which is hidden

from immediate vision or confined window.

4.6.5 Info Tool

This is one of the umque features in mappmg environment whereby data

attributed to a particular map object (e.g. land lot or road) will be displayed in a

simple window for a quick reference to the user (see Fig. 4.12). It is an alternative

way for the user to search file for a particular lot or road as in the first three query

functions; Lot Search, Land Use, and Road; since it displays the same set of data

in a table form.

25

• forml - .=- ,r"X

--q.,.>- .~ ~L•y.r J c.l~ -p/l·y.r I

__:_::~ --L•nd~

-d 1 ,..~,., I

4.6.6 Layer Control

Fig. 4.12: Info Tool

Since the map is constructed in a number of layers or if the user uses the Open

Layer function, the user might want to view only a certain layer of the map while

hiding the others. Thus, he/she may click on the layer control command and de-

activate layers of not of his/her interest through its resulted window (see Fig.

4.13). Fig. 4.14 shows an example whereby the road layer of the map was chosen

to be hidden off from view by the user while retaining the others.

26

- Ferm1 - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -::- ='-rx

Fig. 4.13: Layer Control Tool

@

~ .!J ~ L@j

Layer Control tool, in fact, could do more than that. It is one of the tools which

can be used by engineers to support their decision making on urban-related

matters for instance to decide on the frequency of the road maintenance activity,

to decide on whether or not to upgrade the current road networks to cater for

surrounding development, to identify on the possible location for future road

construction project based on the future pattern of land use, and even to estimate

on the possible expenses needed for the road maintenance and upgrading works

since all these decisions are related with the information on the dynamic pattern

of land use of the city which is provided directly and in an effective way by the

application. Not only benefit engineers but also to urban planners where

information on the building heights, number of dwelling units in every lot, total

built-up area, total area for open space etc. can be all labeled on the map to make

27

the user (engineers and urban planners) to view those data in a broader picture

which incorporates many more factors and parameters for them to make informed

and effective decision than the conventional method where all these information

have to be sketched on the map which is tedious and time consuming. This

application is much more effective when the area covered by the city or

municipality is relatively huge and where the tasks of sketching and locating all

information concerned on every single lot on the map by conventional means is

totally arduous. Fig. 4.14 shows example where data on the street width of all

roads throughout the city can be labeled via Layer Control tool. This can also be

done easily with the Label button in the Layer Control window (see Fig. 4.13) to

others types of data for instance building heights and ages, number of dwelling

units on each lots, dimension of water supply pipes throughout the city and thus

their corresponding flow and pressure characteristics, size and capacity of sewer

line and drains etc. where the first two (2) are important for urban planners to

support and formulate decision on whether or not to revise their zoning plan while

the rest critical for engineers to identify location where upgrading works of the

current systems are needed.

4.6.7 Show/Hide Legend

As the name implies, the purpose of this tool is to display the legend for the map

for ease of references (refer back Fig. 4.2)

28

Fig. 4.14: Info Label on the street width of all road networks throughout the city via

Layer Control makes engineering decision more effective like on whether the

current road conditions are synchronized with the surrounding development

29

4.6.8 Marquee Select, Radius Select, Polygon Select

Similar like Select tool, Marquee Select, Radius Select and Polygon Select allows

user to select more than one (I) object on the map for further analysis via

square/rectangular or marquee shape, radius shape, and polygon shape,

respectively. This set of tools is typically used in conjunction with Show Statistics

tool.

.. renat _- .r 'X

Fig. 4.15: Show Statistics Tool

30

4.6.9 Show Statistics

This is another tool in the application which supports engineers and urban

planners in their decision making activities. This tool is associated with a kind of

simple analysis performed by the application and it is used in conjunction with

Marquee, Radius or Polygon Select tools. The window corresponds to this tool

shows the user on the sum and average of each object's properties (e.g. sum of

building heights of 100 lots and its average). Fig. 4.14 shows sums and averages

of several characteristics for 15 roads selected via Marquee Select. For instance,

urban planners can easily identify the average of the building heights or the total

number of dwelling units of a particular area or radius for them to limit the

heights of building or the total floor space ratio for the next development on that

area inside their new zoning plan.

4.6.10 Object Info

This tool presents to the user information on the total area, total perimeter length,

and its corresponding position related information on X-Y coordinate system of a

particular map object (land lot or road). This tool will only be activated after user

has selected a particular object of concern via Select tool (see Fig. 4.15)

4.6.11 Print

As the name implies, this tool allows the user to print out the map or results on

query or analysis done by the application for their record and various uses. One

example of the use of spatial data on the lot location and its surrounding land uses

is in planning application which is required by the landowner or developer who

want to develop or redevelop his/her land.

31

__ L_D~-~ L•nd-.. I

- -d _j F..lnd _j

Fig. 4.16: Object Info Tool sbowing information on total area, total perimeter as

well as position-related information of tbe map object

32

CHAPTERS

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

While this product has met its objectives on improving the method of delivery of urban

related information to various users and as one of the planning and decision-making

support system to urban planners and engineers on urban related matter, the objective of

whether or not the application can reduce the number of front-desk staff and time needed

for a person to attain required information on the urban characteristics of which the

application has supported has to be experimented by putting this application at the front-

desk of the planning department for it to be accessed by public and gain possible

feedback from the department's survey on the public response. To test on whether or not

this application will benefit urban planner or engineer of the MBI itself is by simply

asking them to try out and make this application as part of their planning and decision

support system and surely one will found out much more positive response. Just try it

once and one will found out it is so effective as compared with the conventional method.

In whatever speculation whatsoever on whether the application will meet its very main

objectives, it has been certain that this product will be employed by the MBI Planning

Department as the main component of their routine data sharing and delivery system as

well as a planning and decision-making support tools for urban planners and engineers

from MBI and others government's agencies and individuals.

5.2 Recommendation

To enhance the product's effectiveness in future which is out of the scope of this project,

it is recommended that the application is made accessible on every MBI staff personal

computer of all related departments via local area network as well accessible to others

local authorities and government's agencies via appropriate means without them need to

come to the Planning Department to attain those urban related information for their uses.

33

REFERENCES

1. Mrs. Noor Amila bt. Wan Abdullah Zawawi, Lecturer, Civil Engineering

Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Oral Communication.

2. Dr. Abdul Nasir Matori, Lecturer, Civil Engineering Department, Universiti

Teknologi PETRONAS, Oral Communication.

3. Miss Komathy Krishnan, Lecturer, COSMOPOINT Institute of Information

Technology (Ipoh Branch), Oral Communication.

4. Miss Jaslina Shaidin, Town Planning Officer, Town Planning Department, Ipoh

City Council, Oral Communication.

5. Mrs. Saadiah Mohd Saat, Research Officer, Civil Engineering Department,

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Oral Communication.

6. Mr. Syahrulnizam b. Baharom, Assistant Town Planning Officer, Department of

Town Planning & Building Control, Taiping Municipal Council, Oral

Communication.

7. Ahris Yaakup, Foziah Johar, Susilawati Sulaiman, Ruslin Hassan, Abdul Rashid

Ibrahim, GIS and Development control system for a local authority in Malaysia

(Habitat International), Elsevier Science Ltd. (2003).

8. Ahris Yaakup, Sistem Maklumat Geografi;Prinsip Asas dan Penggunaannya,

Jabatan Perancangan Bandar Dan Wilayah Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai

Johor, 1999.

9. CW Koay, Learning Microsoft Visual Basic; Step by Step 6.0, Venton Publishing,

2000.

34

10. Maplnfo Professional User's Guide Version 7.0, Mapinfo Corporation, Troy, NY,

2002.

11. MapBasic Development Environment User's Guide Version 7.0, Maplnfo

Corporation, Troy, NY, 2002.

12. MapBasic Desktop Mapping Tools Reference, Maplnfo Corporation, Troy, NY,

1992.

35

APPENDICES

1. Application's Visual Basic Coding Environment for Form 1 (Main Interface &

Map Working Tools)

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command!_ Click()

Form3.Show

End Sub

Private Sub Command to_ Click()

mi.RunMenuCommand 1702

End Sub

Private Sub Command!!_ Click()


mi.Do "set window info parent 11 & Forml.Picture2.hWnd

End Sub

Private Sub Commandl2 _Click()

mi.RunMenuCommand 80 I

End Sub

Private Sub Command13 _Click()

'mi.RunMenuCommand 207

'mi.Do "Set Next Document Parent" & Forml.Picture2.hWnd & "Style 1"

End Sub



End Sub

Private Sub Command 15 _Click()


End Sub

36



End Sub



End Sub



End Sub

Private Sub Command 19 _Click()


End Sub


Form4.Show

End Sub



End Sub

Private Sub Command2l_Click()


End Sub



End Sub


Form2.Show

End Sub


mi.Do "Run Application ""C:\Map.WOR"""

mi.Do "Set Next Document Parent" & Formi.Picture2.hWnd & "Style I"

37

Private Sub Commaud6 _Click()

Call OpenATable

End Sub


mi.RunMenuCommaud 170 I

End Sub


mi.RunMenuCommaud 1705

End Sub


mi.RunMenuCommaud 1706

End Sub

Private Sub Form_ Load()

Set mi ~ CreateObject("Maplnfo.Application")

mi.Do "Set Application Window" & Forml.hWnd

End Sub

Private Sub Form_ QueryUnload(Caucel As Integer, UnloadMode As Integer)

Set mi =Nothing

End Sub

2. Application's Visual Basic Coding Environment for Form 2 (Road)

Private Sub Commaudl_ Click()

Adodcl.RecordSource ~"SELECT* FROMjalaul WHERE Namajalau ~""' & txt.Keyword.Text & """'

Adodc !.Refresh

Set DataGrid2.DataSource ~ Adodcl

End Sub


Unload Me

End Sub

38

Private Sub DataGridl_ Click()

DataGridi.DataChanged ~False

End Sub


Adodc2.RecordSource = 11Select * from Jalanl" Adodc2.Refresh

Set DataGrid I.DataSource ~ Adodc2

End Sub

3. Application's Visnal Basic Coding Environment for Form 3 (Lot Search)

Private Sub Command I_ Click()

Adodci.RecordSource ~"SELECT* FROM citycentrel WHERE No _lot~"' & txtKeyword.Text & '""

Adodc I.Refresh

Set DataGrid2.DataSource ~ Adodcl

End Sub


Unload Me

End Sub

Private Sub DataGrid I_ Click()

DataGridi.DataChanged ~False

End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()

Adodc2.RecordSource = "Select * from city centre 1"

Adodc2.Refresh

Set Data Grid l.DataSource = Adodc2

End Sub

4. Application's Visnal Basic Coding Environment for Form 4 (Land Use)

Private Sub Command I_ Click()

Adodci.RecordSource ~"SELECT* FROM citycentrel WHERE Gunatanah_lulus ~"' & txtKeyword.Text& ""'

Adodci.Refresh

Set DataGrid2.DataSource ~ Adodc I

End Sub

39


Unload Me

Forml.Show

End Sub

Private Sub DataGridl_ Click()

DataGridl.DataChanged ~False

End Sub


Adodc2.RecordSource = "Select * from citycentrel"

Adodc2.Refresh

Set Data Grid l.DataSource ~ Adodc2

End Sub

5. Application's Visual Basic Coding Environment for Module 1 (Open Layer)

Option Explicit

Public itsamap As Boolean

Public map Win!D As Long

Public mi As Object

Public Sub OpenATable()

Dim file_ name As String

Dim tabName As String

On Error Go To userCancelled

Forml.CommonDialogl.Filter ~ "Maplnfo Tables (*.tab)l*.tab"

'Forml.CommonDialogl.Filter ~ "mapinfo workspace(. *wor) I *.tab" Form l.CommonDialogl.Filterlndex ~ I

Form l.CommonDialogl.ShowOpen

file_ name ~ Form l.CommonDialog !.FileName

tabName = mi.Eval("PathToTableName$( '"'" & file_name & """ )")

mi.Do "Open Table""" & file_name & """as" & tabName

mi.Do "Set Table" & tabName & "ReadOnly"

Ifmi.Eval("Tablelnfo(" & tabName & "," & 5 & ")") = "pt' Then

MsgBox "This table is not mappable. I couldn't open that!"

mi.Do "Close Table " & tabName

Exit Sub

End if

If itsamap Then

mi.Do "Add Map Layer" & tabName

40

Else

mi.Do "Set Next Document Parent" & Fonnl.Picture2.hWnd & "Style 1"

mi.Do 11Map From" & tabName

mapWiniD ~ CLng(mi.Evai("FrontWindowO"))

itsamap =True

End if

Exit Sub

userCancelled:

Exit Sub

End Sub

41

Documents

Development of a User Interface Application for lpoh City Council … · 2020. 5. 7. · Development of a User Interface Application for Ipoh City Council Department of Town Planning